Obviously mathews must be hurt. He went from 6 or 7 carries in the first and beginning of the second quarter to zero the rest of the game. He wasnt even in there for the second half except for one play where he ran a dump off route and the second to last play where they put him in to make the redskins respect the between the tackles run. No way mathews doesnt have a hurt ankle or similar injury I mean he was averging 4.9 yards a carry for christ sake

Matthews has a lot to prove before we start pointing fingers at the coaching staff. He had 100 yard games against the Colts and the Jags, great. We are all speculating why he wasn't in the game, but no one knows for sure.

Matthews has a lot to prove before we start pointing fingers at the coaching staff. He had 100 yard games against the Colts and the Jags, great. We are all speculating why he wasn't in the game, but no one knows for sure.

Click to expand...

And going into today's game, Mathews was the ONLY RB to have consecutive 100+ yard games this season.

When they were down inside the 1, they had Mathews in. But didn't give it to him. Was he a decoy? That one still has me baffled. But then again, I'm easily baffled. Just ask my wife.

Matthews has a lot to prove before we start pointing fingers at the coaching staff. He had 100 yard games against the Colts and the Jags, great. We are all speculating why he wasn't in the game, but no one knows for sure.

According to the presser McCoy said Mathews was fine. With 6 carries RM24 was over halfway to another century game. He has proven things this season. Most fans feel Clarry proves something faster than Mathews. At his level of production he was on pace to eclipse 100 in less than 12 carries (assuming his production was maintained which may not have happened). That said I find it inexcusable that our most productive player in the first half got what 1 carry in the second half and was not injured. If that doesnt speak to a problem with the coaching mentality so be it. It screams of a problem to me. I dont like our coaches taking effective players off the field.

Dont get me wrong. DW39 is great but he is far more effective when used in combination with RM24 IMHO.

Matthews has a lot to prove before we start pointing fingers at the coaching staff. He had 100 yard games against the Colts and the Jags, great. We are all speculating why he wasn't in the game, but no one knows for sure.

A half-dozen times, McCoy was asked different ways to talk about the thinking by he and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt on that goal-line series. Every time, McCoy gave a variation of the same answer -- that he would not second-guess the play calling.

“If one of those three plays worked, there would be no questions asked,” McCoy said.

Considering that neither of those first two plays had a very high chance of success, that “if” was a lot bigger than the six-inch gulf that felled the Chargers.

And, for the record, just as in Tennessee when McCoy accused the assembled media of questioning him only because something didn’t work, questions were rampant in the press box (and, probably, in living rooms across America) from the time Rivers handed off to Woodhead on first down on Sunday.

Few people defer to coaches' playcalling more than I do. You watch film with people who play and coach the game and you learn every time how much you don’t know.

But in this instance, no defensive alignment, no matchup issue, almost nothing you could imagine could convince me that the Chargers trying to run power at least once was not the right thing to do.

Honestly ? REALLY ??? COACHING ? not sure why do those series of players?? for what?? We all know Allen was hot... I get it now.. Everyone knows it wasn't a RUNNING PLAY ? after 2 semi good weeks of Football we found a way to lose a game we needed!

Why in hell are they building this kid up with a couple good weeks only to chop him down. If they are going to lose, and they did, why not give the ball to Mathews at least once?......................... beats the hell out of me.

McCoy is right about one thing, if one of those plays works it's not even talked about, except maybe to dote on the genius of the call. Personally, one on one on Gates outside mismatch isn't a bad call, they bought the RM24 decoy, Gates was held, and Rivers should have thrown a little more outside low instead of a jump ball, Gates isn't going to get it picked off, perhaps he was a little shaken by Allen's inability to 'box out' a DB earlier for his second INT. Now I would have jammed it at them on 1st down with Matthews and McClain leading, with a couple wideouts as decoys. But if that had failed 2nd down is your only chance for misdirection and if you run and don't make it you have to pass on 3rd. I actually don't mind the Gates pass call, the 3rd down call was the most baffling, Rivers doesn't throw well in a moving pocket so you call it by design? There is no Dwight Clark on the Chargers.

Two of the comments I've heard repeated here and elsewhere that are ludicrous. People saying McCoy should have gone for it on 4th down to win the game, and people questioning the 'tail' calls, are you serious? Hey if a Roulette wheel hits red 100 times in a row what should you bet on next? It doesn't matter the odds are 50/50 just like any coin flip.

McCoy is right about one thing, if one of those plays works it's not even talked about, except maybe to dote on the genius of the call. Personally, one on one on Gates outside mismatch isn't a bad call, they bought the RM24 decoy, Gates was held, and Rivers should have thrown a little more outside low instead of a jump ball, Gates isn't going to get it picked off, perhaps he was a little shaken by Allen's inability to 'box out' a DB earlier for his second INT. Now I would have jammed it at them on 1st down with Matthews and McClain leading, with a couple wideouts as decoys. But if that had failed 2nd down is your only chance for misdirection and if you run and don't make it you have to pass on 3rd. I actually don't mind the Gates pass call, the 3rd down call was the most baffling, Rivers doesn't throw well in a moving pocket so you call it by design? There is no Dwight Clark on the Chargers.

Two of the comments I've heard repeated here and elsewhere that are ludicrous. People saying McCoy should have gone for it on 4th down to win the game, and people questioning the 'tail' calls, are you serious? Hey if a Roulette wheel hits red 100 times in a row what should you bet on next? It doesn't matter the odds are 50/50 just like any coin flip.

Click to expand...

McCoy's stance of "nobody would be complaining if one of those plays worked", is only valid if every play has an equal chance of succeeding at that point, and we know damn well that's not the case. McCoy acts like the press doesn't have the right to question the play calling. I hate to break it to him, but he's a rookie head coach with no track record. Belichick might get away with that, because his won championships, but McCoy's attitude will not gain him any allies.

When you're right up at the goal line, the type of plays you run are different, than if you have more space to operate in. Getting separation for a receiver is difficult, and a straight ahead run play has a higher percentage of being successful. Mathews has already shown the ability to go up and over the pile if necessary. At the goal line, you have a better shot if you go big. Run your most powerful back behind your strongest blockers. Mathews with the rock, and McClain leading the way behind Fluker and Clary...... that should've been at least tried once.

McCoy is right about one thing, if one of those plays works it's not even talked about, except maybe to dote on the genius of the call. Personally, one on one on Gates outside mismatch isn't a bad call, they bought the RM24 decoy, Gates was held, and Rivers should have thrown a little more outside low instead of a jump ball, Gates isn't going to get it picked off, perhaps he was a little shaken by Allen's inability to 'box out' a DB earlier for his second INT. Now I would have jammed it at them on 1st down with Matthews and McClain leading, with a couple wideouts as decoys. But if that had failed 2nd down is your only chance for misdirection and if you run and don't make it you have to pass on 3rd. I actually don't mind the Gates pass call, the 3rd down call was the most baffling, Rivers doesn't throw well in a moving pocket so you call it by design? There is no Dwight Clark on the Chargers.

Two of the comments I've heard repeated here and elsewhere that are ludicrous. People saying McCoy should have gone for it on 4th down to win the game, and people questioning the 'tail' calls, are you serious? Hey if a Roulette wheel hits red 100 times in a row what should you bet on next? It doesn't matter the odds are 50/50 just like any coin flip.

Click to expand...

To me it seemed Rivers way playing not to f*** it all up on both passes into the end zone. McCoy can say what he wants but those three plays were more jacked up than any in recent memory. Don't kid yourselves, McCoy and Whisenhunt know they f***ed up in their heart of hearts with those bad play calls.

This is a prime example of a coach (Whisenhunt) feeling himself too much! Stop trying to be cute and play football! Put McClain in with Mathews behind him and smash them In the mouth! If the stop you 4 times, shake their hands. Mathews has taken a lot of criticism and rightfully so but I'm loving him this season. He's running hard and he's moving forward every time he touches the ball. Show him respect and give him the ball. Hardest loss as a fan t

A friend of mine made the observation that Mathews and McClain were lined up on 2nd down and ready for power. Rivers audibled into that jump ball to Gates that he (pretty badly) overthrew.

Whatever the case may be, the coaching staff really did give up on Mathews in that game, though I think it was more of them not wanting to be as predictable, as admittedly, Woodhead does allow them a bit more versatility in their playcalling than Mathews. Still, when the game is on the line and you're in that particular situation, either hand it off to the guy who is most likely to get you those tough yards or pull a Stafford and take it over yourself.

I think both McCoy and Whiz know they messed up, I have a feeling they'll rely heavily on Mathews against the Broncos. Or sure as S@#$ hope they do, only way to beat Manning is to make him play outside of his comfort zone, seeing how that'll be much easier said that done with our poor pass rush, the second thing to do would be to control the clock.

I think both McCoy and Whiz know they messed up, I have a feeling they'll rely heavily on Mathews against the Broncos. Or sure as S@#$ hope they do, only way to beat Manning is to make him play outside of his comfort zone, seeing how that'll be much easier said that done with our poor pass rush, the second thing to do would be to control the clock.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately that will be really tough to do against the second best run defense in the league.

Unfortunately that will be really tough to do against the second best run defense in the league.

Click to expand...

They allow 81 rushing yards per game, but most teams are forced to abandon the run in order to play catch up which I believe factors into why they rank 3rd against the run. If you can pound it out on the ground against them and control the clock, would be the best way to go.